Re: What beer are you drinking - Autumn '12

What didn't I drink tonight? Joined five of my friends in a one-of-a-kind tour of the Goose Island Chicago brewery and barrel houses tonight, conducted by Brewmaster Brett Porter and Barrel-Aging Program Manager John Laffler (who is leaving the company to start his own brewery). The two were very candid and open to our many questions, and we got to try eight or so experimental beers straight from the barrel, including barrel-aged stouts, a barleywine, a few saisons and some interesting variants of existing beers, like a grapefruit version of Sofie. And to top it off, they rotated in a five-gallon keg of Bourbon County Cherry Rye, which is very fruit-forward now but should relax a bit with some age.

One rumor dispelled by Porter: Bourbon County Stout will not be a year-round product, so even though there's still some on shelves now in a few places we shouldn't expect any more shipments of the 2012 batch. On a happier note, Porter said they may in fact do Bourbon County Vanilla again. And, oh yes, it won't be King Henry but there will be a barrel-aged barleywine coming out again.

Bourbon County Stout is aged in Heaven Hill barrels; the Bourbon County Rye is aged in Templeton barrels. They're also experimenting with some Koval barrels, which are only 35 gallons, more because of the unique single-grain whiskeys Koval does than because of the smaller size/accelerated aging.

Re: What beer are you drinking - Autumn '12

Had a few bottles of Leffe Brune last night. Very solid Belgian brown ale but tasted better to my recollection when I had it in Belgium and France. Of course, the scenery and atmosphere on those trips made everything taste better!

"I distrust a man who says 'when.' He's got to be careful not to drink too much, because he's not to be trusted when he does." Sydney Greenstreet